The present invention relates to a business method that can be conducted over a global network such as the Internet and, more particularly, to a method and system of administering consumer items including regularly purchased items or subscription items over a global network.
The system and method according to the invention provide a service to individuals and businesses that finds and, at the customer's option, automatically subscribes them to a lowest-cost provider for subscription-type consumer items such as but not limited to telephone, long distance, cellular phone, electricity, gas, home insurance, car insurance, cable TV, Internet access, magazine subscriptions, mortgages, travel, etc. The system can effect the same functionality for one-time purchase consumer items such as automobiles, household goods, office supplies, etc. so that the customer receives the best price at the time of purchase.
In a mortgage context, the system can be used to refinance a mortgage, where the system server compares available mortgage rates that suit the customer's circumstances, compares those rates with the existing rate, calculates the transaction costs of paying off the existing mortgage and closing the new one, and presents the customer with the results and if in accordance with the customer's profile, initiates the transaction. To purchase an automobile, the service can poll suppliers for cars meeting customer specifications, find the lowest price, and report the results to the customer at intervals or when a threshold has been reached. Optionally, it may initiate the transaction. Other examples include buying a service such as cellular phone service. When the customer can wait to initiate or renew a service, the system can poll and monitor service options and special offers, calculate the total cost of equipment and service over a selected time period, and report the most favorable results at intervals or report when a threshold has been reached. If the customer already has service and a cancellation charge may apply, that is factored into the calculations reported to the customer. The system can also be used for selecting investment vehicles. The customer's bank or brokerage account may have multiple options for holding cash and other assets that have differing interest rates and service charges. The system would identify and optionally select the best combination of such services. If the customer has multiple accounts, perhaps with different institutions, this optimization could be performed across vendors. If the customer provided or allowed the system to acquire the needed information, the system could also compare plans available from multiple institutions to see if the customer would benefit from establishing an account there while still preserving confidentiality.
The system maintains and continuously updates a database of services and prices and transaction costs, regularly monitors the customer's usage of each product or service, finds the lowest prices available to each customer for each service or product, and then switches the customer's account at the customer's option to the chosen service provider. Where multiple pricing plans are available from a single provider, the system analyzes the customer's pattern of use to determine which provider and pricing plan is most economic. The system can be offered directly to customers via Internet, mail and/or telephone and may also provide the functionality to other companies so that they can co-brand or private label the service.
The system provides the customer with the option of specifying criteria other than price in a user profile and selects the lowest-cost consumer items meeting those criteria. The system also gives the customer the option of consolidating billing for all services into a single bill.
The system expands on three trends underway on the Internet and other computer networks:                The regulatory mandate for competition in telecom and utility services makes it possible for a company to re-sell telecom, gas, and electricity services, buying at wholesale and marketing to customers at retail. Some of these companies provide one-stop shopping for telecom and utility services. Since most providers are reselling the service of well-established wholesalers, there may be little difference in the quality of service, and competition may be mainly on price;        Comparative shopping sites on the Internet give the customer comparative prices for various service providers. However, since prices are constantly changing, customers must keep checking comparisons for each service category and then initiate a change in service providers;        Consolidation of billing as a convenience to the customer. Bills designated by the customer are forwarded to the bill payer, which consolidates the bills into a single statement. The customer can control which bills are to be paid and when by visiting a single Internet site or by other means of communication.        
The system according to the present invention takes a next step in this area, primarily via the Internet and other information networks by doing the comparative shopping for the customer, continually repeating the comparison to provide a menu of choices, identifying the lowest-cost option meeting the customer's requirements, automatically switching the customer's service to whichever service provider affords the best price, optionally consolidating billing for all services into a single bill, etc. All these activities may be accomplished utilizing computational and Internet equipment such as a PC, modem or other connection, browser, Internet appliance, etc. or by means of other information processing and communications means.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of administering consumer items over a global network includes the steps of (a) compiling a user profile relating to desired consumer items, (b) accessing a database of items available from product and service providers, and identifying relevant items according to the user profile, (c) if the user profile incorporates an automatic best choice service, automatically implementing the relevant items, and communicating the implemented relevant items to the user, and (d) if the user profile does not incorporate the automatic best choice service, communicating the relevant items to the user, and enabling the user to selectively implement the relevant items. Step (a) may be practiced by monitoring a pattern of consumer item use and further according to user-entered parameters. The method may further include periodically repeating steps (b)-(d). The communicating in steps (c) and (d) are preferably, but not necessarily, performed via electronic mail or other means of communication. Related items that are available at low or no incremental cost due to bundling and the like may also be identified and communicated to the user. If a particular parameter in the user profile significantly affects the costs, the user can be notified and provided with an option to adjust the user profile.
In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of obtaining and maintaining consumer items including products and services at a lowest available cost over a global network includes the steps of (a) compiling a user profile according to a pattern of customer use and user-entered parameters, (b) maintaining a database of items available from product and service providers, (c) accessing the database of items and identifying relevant items according to the user profile, (d) if the user profile incorporates an automatic best choice service, automatically implementing the relevant items, and communicating the implemented relevant items to the user, and (e) if the user profile does not incorporate the automatic best choice service, communicating the relevant items to the user, and enabling the user to selectively implement the relevant items.
According to still other exemplary embodiments of the invention, the invention is embodied in a computer system for administering consumer items and a computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for administering consumer items. The computer system includes at least one user computer running a computer program that compiles the user profile relating to desired consumer items and accesses a database of items available from product and service providers. The computer program identifies relevant items according to the user profile. A system server runs a server program, wherein the user computer and the system server are interconnected by a computer network. The system server maintains at least a portion of the database of available items and effects implementing of the relevant items according to user preferences. The relevant items may be automatically implemented according to the automatic best choice service, or the user may be provided an opportunity to selectively implement the relevant items.